I'm calling bullshit. DUmmies don't have friends to begin with and the sure as hell don't have friends married to Freepers if they have one.

06-08-2008, 04:41 PM

linda22003

I don't understand separate finances and separate expenses in a marriage, frankly. It's a team effort.

06-08-2008, 05:01 PM

Zeus

Quote:

Originally Posted by linda22003

I don't understand separate finances and separate expenses in a marriage, frankly. It's a team effort.

I never could either. When I was married everything that could be was a joint acct. Most our friends kept everything separate One couple even goes as far as divvying up who pays what utility bill. About the only thing that was separated during our marriage was my business interests. That wasn't done out of lack of trust or anything other than insulating our private life from litigation and finacial responsibility involving the businesses.

06-08-2008, 05:19 PM

linda22003

I'd be interested in hearing from people on this board who maintain separate accounts -- "You pay the mortgage, I pay the utilities, you pay for groceries, I pay for vacations". I'd just be interested in knowing what they think are good reasons for it.

06-08-2008, 05:34 PM

SarasotaRepub

Nope, joint stuff here. All the bills get paid outa one joint acct.

06-08-2008, 05:39 PM

InspiredHome

He makes the money. I spend it. :D But seriously, we have a joint account and both can access it. He mostly covers the bills. I do the grocery shopping and whatnot. He refers to it as "our money." My parents have separate accounts, however. My dad is a tightwad and insists on keeping his "excellent credit." He only bought a new car after it was totaled after he was t-boned.

06-08-2008, 05:39 PM

MrsSmith

Quote:

Originally Posted by linda22003

I'd be interested in hearing from people on this board who maintain separate accounts -- "You pay the mortgage, I pay the utilities, you pay for groceries, I pay for vacations". I'd just be interested in knowing what they think are good reasons for it.

Mr Smith and I are trying that right now. We have a couple of reasons, 1) he is actually involved in our finances when he has to help pay the bills, and 2) he used to drop his travel money into our joint account without always making sure I knew what it was...so one month, I used a bunch of it to pay extra on our debts. I don't see his pay stubs, so assumed he'd just gotten a really good check that month. When his plane ticket hit the account 2 days before the end of the month, we had a major catastrophe on our hands. :eek:

Now we have a budget drawn up that splits the expenses in such a way that we both end up with about an even amount of discretionary spending every month...for now. In a couple months, his ex's latest court suit will hit full strength, and discretionary spending will completely disappear. :(

I don't know if any our arrangement would work for anyone else, but it's great for us. When he pays attention to how much money we actually have, he doesn't spend as much, and neither do I. :D

06-08-2008, 06:29 PM

hellsbells

Quote:

Originally Posted by linda22003

I'd be interested in hearing from people on this board who maintain separate accounts -- "You pay the mortgage, I pay the utilities, you pay for groceries, I pay for vacations". I'd just be interested in knowing what they think are good reasons for it.

My husband and I kept our accounts separate when we got married, but I went into the marriage with more assets than he did. (I had stock accounts.) We have a joint savings/checking account, from which we have a certain amount per month debited from our individual accounts in order to pay all our bills. But, we both have our own individual accounts where we keep our separate investments. It's what my parents do, as well. (Joint account for bill paying/separate accounts for everything else.) It worked well for them for 42 years, so we followed suit.

06-08-2008, 06:43 PM

ralph wiggum

Quote:

Originally Posted by linda22003

I don't understand separate finances and separate expenses in a marriage, frankly. It's a team effort.

I'm not even going to discuss the nightmare that the former Mrs. Wiggum inflicted on me. And we did have our accounts jointly.